Laced With Grace

 “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.” Proverbs 20:12 nkjv

 There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in every human.

 15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second.

The longest living cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire lifetime.

Fun facts about the human body have always interested me.  I love hearing how many bones we have in our body (206 as adults, 350 at birth!).  Many of these bones fuse together as we grow into adulthood. Did you know that we have 100,000 hairs on our head?  When I learn these things, God goes from being a little ‘g’ God and once again becomes a big ‘G’ God.  It’s when I stop and take the time to think about fun facts like these, that I’m reminded that God, well, is God.  He has everything under control.  He doesn’t need any help from me.

It is only because of His loving nature, his mercy and abundant grace, that He allows me to play any part in what He does at all.  Kind of like when I have my youngest children, Grace and Samuel help me bake cookies.  I surely don’t need their help.  In all honesty, I could make lots of yummy treats with my eyes closed. And when they do help me there is much more of a mess to clean up afterwards. To tell you the truth, making cookies together takes much longer than if I just did it on my own. 

 But, my joy and my pleasure is increased a hundred times when I have the sweet presence of my children by my side.  From the time they were babies, chubby hands reached up for a wooden spoon to lick. You see, it isn’t the task of baking cookies that brings me such joy, it is the time we have spent together. Laughter can be heard from our kitchen while memories are being made. These precious memories become a super glue that holds our family together as the years go by and they grow older.

God is the creator of all things, most importantly us!  “All things were made by Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:6  God created us for the sole purpose of fellowship with Him. He just loves to spend time with each one of us.  If only we would stop for a moment and think of Him, talk with Him, share our lives with Him.  He wants us to come alongside Him and joyfully work hand in hand with Him. 

Friends, the God we love has made it possible that our brain cells can live a lifetime, that our heart continues to beat without any help from us, and that will continue to take a breath even while asleep.  Stop and think on that awhile. You may want to ask the Lord right now, “Can we bake some cookies?”  

 Merry Christmas!

Joanne

With less than one week away until Christmas, I doubt very seriously that in our rushing around and our last minute gift buying that we notice the people that we pass by each day.

1.  The shoppers at the mall
2. The customers in line at the post office
3. The drivers on the road

 WHAT DO WE NOTICE AS WE PASS THEM BY?

• Are they confused?
• Are they hurting?
• Are they frustrated?
• Are they alone?

This week, I was online looking at our local funeral home page. I was looking for information on a funeral I wanted to attend. I noticed in my search, that since December 1, our small town funeral home has held 24 funerals.

 MY HEART ACHED FOR THESE FAMILIES. 24 families that will have a Christmas without a loved one.

While I shopped, baked, wrapped and hurried along my merry way…I had not stopped to see the hurting around me. As I passed by literally hundreds of people these past couple of weeks, I only saw what I wanted to see.

 I am so glad that when Jesus passes by – He takes His time to see us as we are!

 JOHN 9:1 “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.”

 What I love about this passage is the fact that as Jesus passed by…HE SAW!

•   HE SAW because He was not in a hurry!
•  HE SAW because He was not distracted!
•  HE SAW because He was not oblivious to the need!

 I love the song we sing, “Reach out and touch the Lord as He goes by”…

 “Reach out and touch the Lord as He goes by.

You will find He’s not too busy to hear your heart’s cry.

He’s passing by this moment, your needs He’ll supply

Just reach out and touch the Lord as He walks by.”

I encourage you ~ don’t just pass by your neighbor.

Do not be too busy to hear someone’s heart cry!  

REACH OUT AND MINISTER TO SOMEONE THIS WEEK!

Dear Lord…this week as I walk amongst hurting people at the stores, at my place of employment, and in my neighborhood – please open my eyes to see beyond their faces. Give me a heart of compassion to speak love and peace to someone who is hurting. Help me to not just pass them by, but to reach out to them. AMEN

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We have sailed too close to shore, having fallen in love with life, we have lost our thirst for the waters of Life. ~ Sir Frances Drake

And he (Elisha) said, “Take the arrows,” and he (Jehoash, King of Israel) took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.” (2 Kings 13:18-20)

What a strange story. It is one that will leave you shaking your head. Elisha was a prophet from God sent to give Jehoash a message. Elisha just ended up getting angry. Why?

Because Jehoash lacked enthusiasm/passion.

How many times as Christians we pray, “Father tell me what to do and I will do it.” I know I have. But God is not only a God that desires obedience he desires passionate obedience.

There is a saying we tell our kids: delayed obedience is disobedience. Even if you eventually end up doing the right thing, you did not obey when you were first told. Delayed obedience is telling the other person you are indifferent or don’t care about them.

God does not want us as robots just doing the right thing, he desires us to have a passionate heart to obey him. This is why God said, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.” (Acts 13: 22) Even when David sinned, whatever David did he was passionate about it.

Are you following God like a robot?
Do you do things in your spiritual walk just because that is what is expected? (prayer, quiet time, etc..)
Is your Christian walk more like a duty instead of a dance?

As a wife longs for her husband’s touch, so God longs to be desired by you. As 2008 comes to a close and we enter into 2009 spend some time thinking about your Christian walk. Have things have become mechanical? If so, ask God to help you desire him more.

Yes there will be seasons in your Christian walk, but just like a marriage the passion and desire needs to still be there. God does not want you out of your obligation, God want your heart, your soul and most of all, your passion.

A.W. Tozer said, “God waits to be wanted.”

Heavenly Father, more of you, less of me, that is my desire. Give me a heart like David. Help me to choose living a life of desire over self-protection, to give you my dreams and be vulnerable before you. As the song says Father, “Lord I give You my heart,
I give You my soul, I live for You alone.” Help me to desire you more.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!